In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2 ESV)
Home and Hope
When we relocated in 1983 to Little Rock, Arkansas, we had no idea where we would live. We spent the first nights in a hotel. A dark and danky hotel. Then we moved to the first apartment we could find. An unpleasant place that resulted in another apartment, followed by a slightly larger apartment, followed by a small house, followed finally by the house we think of as our home in Little Rock… near our church, our work, and our best friends.
But notice how long it took. Even today, almost forty years later, relocating feels a bit unsettling. We do not know exactly what our home will look like, feel like, and be like.
But our heavenly home is different. When we get there, we already can trust the surreal estate agent that has been preparing our way. When we get there, the One who prepared our place knows us, likes us, and loves us. And He has spent thousands of years getting things ready… building a place that will not be disappointing.
Mostly because that place is not all about us, our needs, our desires, our imaginations. That place, our home, is about being with our Father… being with our Savior… being with His precious Holy Spirit. Our ‘time’ will be spent with Him, without the distractions that we are used to experiencing. Our ‘time’ will be spent whole-heartedly praising Him, without the selfish moments that pull our attention away, now. Our ‘time’ will be spent singing, and dancing, and shouting, and smiling, and rejoicing, with peace, with joy, and with love. How could we be disappointed with our beloved?
But even the smaller personal details will delight. Jesus is not building a dull, gray, mundane home. It is a place of true order, of perfection, and of beauty. It is, in a sense, a return to creation (Adam’s home) that God called ‘good,’ and then, finally, after God created the family, (included in the over-arching description of Genesis 1:31) “VERY good.” Family… where we find home.
Our best home will be with God’s family.